Correction: The impact of Fosetyl-Aluminium application timing on Karnal bunt suppression and economic returns of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244931.].

The impact of Fosetyl-Aluminium application timing on Karnal bunt suppression and economic returns of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Fungal pathogens exert severe qualitative and quantitative damages to wheat crop. Karnal bunt of wheat caused by Tilletia indica Mitra, Mundkur is a severe threat to global food security. Nonetheless, T. indica is regulated as a quarantine pest in numerous countries, which further aggravates the situation. Tolerant varieties and appropriate management practices for Karnal bunt are imperative to meet the global wheat demands. This two-year study explored the impact of fungicide [Fosetyl-Aluminium (Aliette)] application timing on allometric traits, disease suppression and economic returns of bread wheat. Four bread wheat cultivars differing in their tolerance to Karnal bunt were used in the study. Fungicide was applied as either seed treatment (ST), foliar application at heading (FAH) or ST + FAH, whereas no application (NA) was taken as control. Lasani-08 performed better than the rest of the cultivars in terms of allometric traits (plant height, leaf area, crop growth rate, photosynthesis, and chlorophyll content), yield and economic returns. Nonetheless, minimal disease severity was recorded for Lasani-08 compared to other cultivars during both years. The ST improved allometric traits of all cultivars; however, ST + FAH resulted in higher yield and economic returns. Cultivar Pasban-90 observed the highest disease severity and performed poor for allometric traits, yield and economic returns. It is concluded that ST + FAH of Fosetyl-Aluminium could be a pragmatic option to cope Karnal bunt of wheat. Nonetheless, Pasban-90 must not be used for cultivation to avoid yield and quality losses.

Citrullus colocynthis regulates de novo lipid biosynthesis in human breast cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Reprogrammed energy metabolism is considered a hallmark of cancer and is proposed as an important target for therapy. Uncontrolled and infinite cell proliferation needs efficient energy sources. To meet the demands of cancer cells lipid metabolism is activated. Citrullus colocynthis is a traditional medicinal plant known for its anticancer and hypolipidemic effects. AIMS: Aim of the current study was to assess the effect of C. colocynthis leaves on regulation of lipid metabolism in MCF-7, a human breast cancer cell line. METHODS: Methanolic extract of leaves and its fractions in increasing polarity-based solvents (n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol) were prepared and analyzed for the presence of secondary metabolites in each fraction. Bioassays and apoptosis genes expression analysis was conducted to evaluate the anticancer and cytotoxic effect of breast cancer cells treated with extract and its fractions, separately. Lipid quantification and gene expression regulation of genes involve in lipid metabolism was performed to evaluate regulation of lipid metabolism. RESULTS: Results showed a significant anticancer activity of methanolic extract of C. colocynthis and two of its fractions prepared with chloroform and ethyl acetate. Quantification of lipids depicted significant increase in cholesterol and increase in triglycerides of treated cells compared to control untreated cells. Expression regulation of genes further confirmed the lipid regulation through significant down regulation of genes involve in lipid metabolism (FASN, HMGCLL1, ACSL5 and ELOVL2). CONCLUSION: The present study concludes that C. colocynthis holds strong anticancer potential through regulation of lipid metabolism and with further studies can be proposed for novel therapeutic approaches.

Lipid-load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: Impact of food-consumption, dietary-macronutrients, extracellular lipid availability and demographic factors.

Lipid-load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has recently gained attention of the researchers working on nutritional regulation of metabolic health. Previous works have indicated that the metabolic circuitries in the circulating PBMCs are influenced by dietary-intake and macronutrient composition of diet. In the present work, we analyzed the impact of diet and dietary macronutrients on PBMCs' lipid-load. The overall analyses revealed that dietary carbohydrates and fats combinatorially induce triglyceride accumulation in PBMCs. On the other hand, dietary fats were shown to induce significant decrease in PBMCs' cholesterol-load. The effects of various demographic factors -including age, gender and body-weight- on PBMCs' lipid-load were also examined. Body-weight and age were both shown to affect PBMC's lipid-load. Our study fails to provide any direct association between extracellular lipid availability and cholesterol-load in both, freshly isolated and cultured PBMCs. The presented work significantly contributes to the current understanding of the impact of food-consumption, dietary macronutrients, extracellular lipid availability and demographic factors on lipid-load in PBMCs.